Time for Africa to shake off historical shackles and dream about own prosperity

By Mark Kapchanga Source:Global Times Published: 2014-4-23 22:28:03

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT



Humanity began in Africa. Genetic evidence shows that probably everyone living today shares African ancestors. But today, the gap between Africa and the rest of the world is massive. Despite being the birthplace of humankind, Africa remains the poorest continent in the world.

Through colonization, Africa missed the critical opportunity to develop economically, politically and socially. Instead, European powers divided it into borders. The fragmentation meant that African nations would not have a common voice.

In essence, colonialism suppressed Africa. It denied its people the right to make their own choices, to become citizens of a constitutional democracy and take control over their lives. It is therefore not surprising that despair and exclusion have driven many decent people to violence. This poses risks to the enormous potential for a great future.

However, Africa should not be trapped in its dark history. It is time it moulted itself from the colonization hangovers.

Half a century since Africa attained independence, its leadership has moved sluggishly to curb high rates of illiteracy, high mortality rates, corruption, unemployment and insecurity.

Even with its huge amounts of arable land, Africa can hardly feed itself. Its abundant natural resources have not helped either as mineral-rich nations persistently engage in inter-communal wars.

Virtually every part of the world is developing because they have dared to dream big. Chinese dream, for instance, is hinged toward the "Chinese spirit" whose core ingredient is patriotism.

It is the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation that has seen it become the world's largest auto producer, the world's largest trading nation in goods, ending the US postwar dominance while more than 400 million people have lifted themselves up from abject poverty to the middle class.

The US, another economic powerhouse, has also had a set of ideals dwelling on prosperity and success and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work.

According to the American dream, life should be better, richer and fuller for everyone.

With democracy penetrating deeper and deeper, Africa should now start dreaming of thriving. A dream that would see African governments formulate policies creating wealth for their people and upholding freedoms.

The dream should push for adequate housing, clean water, stability, good governance, universal healthcare and high quality education for all.

This does not insinuate that Africa is just resting on its laurels. In fact, poverty has dropped by 10 percent over the last decade. But still, there is a huge population that is poor because Africa's development mix has primarily focussed on commodity booms and internal consumption.

This means industrialization, which could reverse this problem, should be a priority in this dream.

This will entail modernizing its infrastructure, a function that is perfectly being executed by the Chinese.

But for the African dream to be real and sustainable, Africans must change how they see things. Where foreign investments clash with local culture, a compromise should be reached in favor of Africa and its people.

More importantly, they should strike a balance that would see the African and Chinese dreams achieved, where possible, concurrently. This is not a hard task. Africans must just stop talking and act.

The author is a journalist on African issues based in Nairobi, Kenya. mkapchanga@gmail.com



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